Speaking from the Heart
by everyhazyday
Summary: Sybil has always had a hard time communicating with the people she loves, but Tom doesn't seem to have a problem understanding her.
1. Chapter 1

_Tom and I love each other. We know you won't approve but we plan to be married._

It was short and simple but could get the message across. Sybil had practiced the two sentences over and over until she could say them clearly with only a trace of a stutter. It may be easier to just let Tom speak but she knew this was something she needed to say. She spoke the words again as she wandered in search of Tom to tell him she was ready, tonight was the night she would tell her family.

When the time came she was regretting her choice, not of Tom, but of the evening, dinner hadn't gone well and her father was already on edge. When Tom entered the room Sybil shook her head and with her eyes willed him to go. She moved towards him, placing her hand on his chest. Instead of moving away her took her hand, "you've asked me to come and I have, we've waited long enough."

Behind them Violet spoke up, "Would someone please tell me what's going on or have we all stepped through the looking glass?"

Deep breath, now was the time, Sybil turned to them. "...a… I… I… a... a... asked…"

"What is going on here?" Robert interrupted his daughter, which wasn't a surprise. He had never had much patience when she was speaking. He loved her she knew but it frustrated him she had never gotten over her stutter like the doctors she had visited as a child had told him when she would..

Robert was looking towards Tom for an answer, hoping it would be more clear but Cora intervened. "Robert, let her finish."

Tom squeezed her hand and Sybil started again, this time on the words she had practiced, stumbling over them just a little.

"When did this happen?" Cora asked.

Mary who had always spoken up for her sister answered. "It's been ages."

"What do you mean, you knew?" Rober recovered enough from his surprise to address his oldest daughter now.

She said she had but she had wondered if it would all blow over. Finally turning on Tom, Robert questioned him. "What do you want from us?"

Tom shook his head, "I don't know what you mean."

"You have been bowing and scraping to me and seducing my daughter behind my back, obviously you want something from me."

This time Tom was angry. "I don't want anything from you except your daughter's happiness, I don't bow and scrape, and I haven't seduced anybody. Give your daughter some credit for knowing your own mind."

Robert laughed, "I'm not sure what either of you are getting out of this… this, madness."

"Your daughter is amazing, smart and independent, we believe in the same things. She is lovely and kind. If you can't see it then you are a fool." As Tom spoke, Sybil squeezed his hands with tears near the edge of her eyes. It wasn't supposed to go like this but Tom's declaration cemented even further in her mind that she had made the right choice.

"How dare you speak to me that way, get out of my house at once." Robert bellowed.

"P… pa… papa."

Robert interrupted Sybil again, "this is folly."

The room was tense, Sybil, who was usually good at reading people had no idea what most people were thinking. Robert had been obvious with his opposition but everyone else seemed silent. Matthew who had always been kind and patient with Sybil looked on with a straight face. He seemed concerned for Sybil but maybe not in support of the whole idea and her mother looked shocked. Even granny's next question couldn't be read as either support or opposition to her and Tom's declaration.

"What is your plan, surely you two have a plan or you wouldn't have brought it up tonight."

Tom looked to Sybil, without words asking if he should share what they had decided. She nodded approval and he spoke. "We will wait until after the wedding," he nodded at Matthew and Lavinia, "and then will go to Dublin, I've gotten a job at a newspaper there."

Cora's eyes widened as he spoke, "you mean to live unmarried."

Sybil shook her head quickly, although the thought of living unmarried wasn't repellant to her she knew it wouldn't help anybody to do it that way and it had never been a part of their discussion. Tom spoke the words to her shaking head, "no, my mother has said Sybil could stay with her while the banns are read, then we will be married."

Robert, who had been facing away from the couple turned on them, "I won't allow it, I won't allow…"

This time it was Sybil who interrupted, keeping it simple trying her best to speak clearly, "it d..doesn't..t m...m...ma...t..t...er, I, I wo..won't ch..ch..change m...my mm..mi..nd." With that she gave one last look to Tom and strode out of the room.

Tom followed and caught up with Sybil in the hall. "I… I'm sorry."

He wrapped his arms around her, "I figured it would go something like that, I just need to know you won't give up on me now."

She shook her head, which some people would have taken for an answer but as always Tom waited patiently for her to form the words he needed to hear her say. "I… I w..won't..t"

He smiled and before pressing his lips to hers said, "then I will be waiting when you are ready."

After returning the affection she broke away from his embrace, squeezing his arm twice before letting go, her little signal which Tom knew meant "I love you."

"I love you too, Sybil, goodnight." He nodded and strode towards the front door of the great building. She hugged herself as she watched the man who understood her go.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Last chapter I was so anxious to publish I forgot to add a note. First of all, Magfreak has written something of a similar story but with Tom being the one who has trouble speaking. It's called _The Words in His Heart._ I really recommend it, another source of inspiration is from the new ABC show the Astronaut Wives Club (which is so good) but involves a character with a similar struggle.

* * *

As soon as Cora's maid left their bedroom Robert was at it again. "This is madness, how do they expect to survive?" He was pacing, full of angry energy.

Cora on the other hand was calmly rubbing in her hand cream at her dressing table. "I suppose she means to find work. She's done good work at the hospital here, Clarkson said they are glad to have her."

"Most people won't be as understanding as our own village hospital to take her on."

It was true, Dr. Clarkson and the staff had been happy to have Sybil come and work after her course, which heaven only knows how she got through, but they had known her since birth and with the war on they were in desperate need for help. Strangers may not be as willing to look past Sybil's stutter, but still Cora thought Robert was being a little harsh but before she could reply he continued. "I really don't think nursing in the slums of Dublin will suit her."

Cora rose and removed her dressing gown on the way to the bed. "Then what kind of life do you think Sybil would be suited for?"

He removed his own dressing gown and got in bed next to his wife. "The quiet wife of a Lord."

Cora laughed, "Sybil may be quiet but I doubt that a quiet life is what she wants." With that she turned out the light signaling the end of the discussion.

Down in the village Tom was lying in bed at the Grantham Arms. He was angry but for different reasons than Robert. How could Sybil's own father believe that the only reason Tom would want to be with her is if he was trying to get something out of them? Could Robert really not see the virtues of his own daughter? Was her stutter really enough to put her own father off?

When Tom had first heard her speak he had been surprised, but it hadn't bothered him. She had always been quiet in the car, although her family would make the occasional comment about her views. It was one such off hand comment made by Cora and the fact he was driving Sybil alone the next day that led to their first conversation.

"I couldn't help but overhear yesterday that you support women's rights."

Her response was the first time she had talked in Tom's presence. "I..I d..do." Sybil had later told him that when he looked back after that she had thought he was never going to talk to her again, but then he had continued on and they spoke briefly of women's rights that day and more after that. It was Sybil's actions then, surrounding the election that year, that gave Tom his faith now that if Sybil wanted something, her father would not stop her.

Back at Downton Sybil was just sorting through things on her own dressing table, trying to decide what few things she would take with her when leaving for Ireland. There was a quiet knock just before the door opened with Mary in her dressing gown. "Can I come in?"

Sybil nodded and Mary closed the door behind her, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry about how they all reacted tonight."

Sybil shrugged and gave up her organization to sit on the bed with her sister, like they had many times in the past.

"Are you sure you really love him Sybil? Are you sure you want to do this?"

Sybil hugged her knees below her nodding, she did love him, she did want to do this.

"I hate to ask but I feel like someone needs to, but you don't just love him because he listens to you, do you?"

Sybil was glad her sister had asked, only because she wanted desperately for someone to understand how she felt. "i...it's so mm..mu..ch m..m..more th..tha..n th...that." She shook her head, frustrated at herself for not being able to say the words she wanted to, eloquence came so easily to Tom while her speech frustrated most listeners, including herself. She leaned over to the table next to her bed and grabbed the pen and paper lying there. She wrote quickly in her near perfect handwriting.

 _We believe in the same things, we believe in each other. I love him for all that he is, all that he stands for._

Mary leaned over, putting her head on Sybil's shoulder in a rare moment of physical closeness. "It will be quiet here without you."

Sybil laughed, shaking her head.

"You know what I mean." Sybil put her arm around Mary, squeezing her into a side hug. If nothing else she would miss her sisters.

Carson was clear in his opposition to the relationship between Tom and Sybil when Tom arrived the next morning to gather the last of his belongings from the estate. Tom understood his position to an extent, Carson was a man of the old ways and always would be, besides as butler he had to agree with Robert, at least publicly, he figured most servants would do the same.

He was almost to the door, leaving Downton forever, when quick footsteps behind him caused Tom to turn. Anna caught up to him quickly and speaking under her breath said, "she won't give in to her father, you needn't worry."

Tom smiled, "I wasn't worried but a little reassurance is always good to hear."

"I doubt I will see you again, but I wish you both luck."

Tom nodded and strode out the door into the bright morning sun, carrying Anna's luck with him.


End file.
